Conversation

2) NOT POLITICAL ADVICE

3) pretty sure COVID isn't the only reason they're not going to shake hands

4) talking about

's mental aptitude: No one thinks he's a supergenius. But I think some claims are pretty overblown. Some of this, I think, is mistaking a long-repressed stutter for not having anything to say: theatlantic.com/magazine/archi

5) I really should know this, but: what's Chris Wallace's deal? (The moderator.) What are his politics? How biased is he usually? Is he likely going to be "impartial" here, or "thesis-driven" so to speak?

6) JEEZ

really is in to superlatives. "great" is coming out something like twice per sentence.

7) I think that Dems might be overoptimistic about fighting over the SC. I basically don't buy the asymmetry between this and 2016, BUT I think that the fact that R held senate both times muddies the picture a lot. Basically I think it's going to be a stalemate not a home run.

8) HOLY SHIT "I am the Democratic Party right now" that is way more assertive than Biden normally is.

9) how do interruptions come across? Does Trump seem like he's in control or like he's a bully?

10) Wallace getting totally run over by Trump here

11) oh boy that soft trailing "good healthcare" when Trump finally gave up on interrupting was REALLY pathetic.

1:15 AM · Sep 30, 2020Twitter Web App

12) "Mr. President I am the moderator of this debate and I would like you to let me ask my question." summary of the debate so far

Replying to

13) ok Biden fucking crushed that exchange. "Ok, I'm not going to listen to him. ... Look, I beat Bernie Sanders."

14) "Mr President will you let him finish please?" Biden: "He doesn't know how to do that."

15) Boy Biden's stutter *really* noticeable there. Clearly trying really hard to say "medicaid" correctly, knew it was coming up in the sentence, went 3/4 on getting the world out correctly the first time.

16) Biden really fucked that one up, you can't very visibly refuse to answer that question. Though his last retort was good.

17) Really think Biden is going to live to regret not promising not to pack the court there. R's are likely already spinning up attack adds that just play that on loop.

18) "weeks away from a vaccine" if the election were more than weeks away that would not end up looking good.

19) boy this is a wacky section, two people reciting lists of PPP to prove they know what a mask is and saying they know how to do masks and the other doesn't.

20) Trump claiming

thinks vaccine will be ready in a few weeks.

-- thoughts on that?

21) really curious how this attack on intelligence goes over with people

22) Trump claimed Biden claims more golf than him. That's... like one of the weirdest lies he's told? Like is there anyone in the world who thinks Biden spends more time golfing than Trump?

23) Both candidates' twitters are tweeting during the debate. I feel like this is.... kind of breaking down the third wall? Like we're all watching them _not_ tweeting live while their twitter publishes. So, like, it's _definitely_ a ghostwriter.

24) "The China plague" thought maybe he'd stopped calling it that, guess not

25) My best guess is that Biden's going to whiff on social distancing here -- I suspect that he's going to overestimate support for it. Particularly Trump has the "pro-freedom" line here which is likely to play well.

26) If personalities were reversed, no chance Biden would have let Trump talk about divorce as a bad thing without pointing out Trump's history of them.

27) Biden: "You can't fix the economy until you fix the COVID crisis" My guess is that doesn't go over well. Generally I'd guess Biden does better here when he blames it on Trump fucking up easy things (refusing to give out masks) than it being hopeless until after COVID.

28) Trump claims he paid millions of taxes in 2016-2017. Is this income tax vs other taxes? Is he lying? Are the published numbers wrong?

29) "We've done things you've never even thought of" If I were Biden I'd respond with something like: "Yeah, like constant lying and running a country without a plan. I haven't ever thought to do those."

30) "You're the worst president America has ever had, come on" Wonder how that went over, probably well?

31) Why bother pandering to the state the debate is in? It appeals to 100 people in the audience. To the millions watching it's just startling us to remember they're physically somewhere instead of just being natively digital or something.

32) Jeez is there like a red card or something here?

33) Biden nailed that one about families

34) "I think the country would be better served..." TBH Wallace is the best debater here.

35) ok, c'mon, really no need to put "possible" in there. Don't think you get any points for a taking a jab at Abraham Lincoln.

36) Really word-salad start to Biden's answer there. just listing social justice related terms.

37) Biden finding his stride halfway through this question, way stronger at the beginning than the end

38) Really interesting to see Trump's approach here -- he's taking the left-wing one if anything, not the right-wing one. (Not that that reflects what he has thought or said or done.) FWIW I think Trump's approach here might be effective.

39) Actually pretty seamless transition there by Trump--went from saying X to saying not X halfway through that answer and it basically worked.

40) oh boy that meeting sounds like it would be a disaster

41) Really strong start to that answer -- "being asked to do things that were insane" I think that moving to call it "radical" is not a good call though--his winning move is to say "these trainings are just shitty, c'mon, everyone knows that" and sidestep larger questions.